provinces are conterminous with the foreign kingdoms of Tonquin, Cochinchina, Burmah, and the half-conquered Laos.
Divisions. The whole country is divided into eighteen provinces, which are usually arranged by the Chinese in the following order;—Chihle, Shantung, Shanse, and Honan, on the north; Keangsoo, Ganhwuy, Keangse, Chekeang, and Fuhkeen, on the east; Hoopih, and Hoonan, in the middle; Shense, Kansuh, and Szechuen on the west; and Kwangtung, Kwangse, Yunnan, and Kweichow, on the south. Of the above provinces, Keangsoo and Ganhwuy were formerly united under the name of Keangnan; Hoopih and Hoonan were together denominated Hookwang; and Kansuh formed part of the province Shense. Under the present dynasty, these have been separated. Other provinces have been greatly increased in extent:—Kansuh has been made to stretch far out, beyond the limits of China proper,—across the desert of Cobi, to the confines of Soungaria, on the N. W., and to the borders of Thibet, on the west; Szechuen, already the largest province of the Empire, has extended its government over the tribes commonly called Sifan and Tufan, lying between that province and Thibet; and Fuhkeen has long included within its boundaries part of the fertile island of Formosa. These and other changes, in the divisions of the country, accompanied by the active, emigrating spirit of the people, which in a few years renders these newly attached colonies wholly Chinese, must soon require a change of the European designation and limits of "China proper."
The Coast of China is in general bluff and rocky; the chief exception being the southern part of Chihle, which, on the other hand, presents to the eye an almost unvaried sandy flat. Teen-tsin-Foo, on the Pih-ho, or White river, is the only port of this province, and is inacessible to vessels of heavy burden. Lighter vessels can enter the river, only by being towed over the sands which lie at its mouth.—The promontory of Shantung is equally inaccessible, from its ruggedness. It possesses but a few good harbours, and many Chinese junks are annually dashed to pieces on its shores.—Keangsoo is easy of approach; but, though the two largest rivers of China, the Yellow river, and the Yang-tsze-keang, both disembogue themselves into the sea within its confines, yet it possesses but one good port, which is Shang-hae-Heen, near the frontiers of Chekeang. For, the Yellow River, in its rapid progress to the sea, carries along with it large quantities of sand and clay, which being lodged at a short distance from its mouth, form one of the worst dangers that coasting junks have to pass between Amoy and Teen-tsin. And the Yang-tsze-keang, stopped in its more gradual passage by rocks and islands which almost block up its entrance, creates, by the accumulation of sand, a bar insurmountable even to vessels of small burden.—The coasts of Chekeang and Fuhkeen,
